Strong, full and rich. A little bit chalky with dry wood. Light tones of yellow fruit at first with banana and pineapple, then also some vanilla and caramel. The fruity tones get a bit more tropical after a minute and gain some sherry flavours. A little bit musty in the background. The fruity notes get stronger as we leave this one to sit. Fruitcake, mango peel and grilled pineapple.

Sip:
Hot with lots of alcohol and a bit of a thick feel to it. Wood, vanilla, caramel. Fruitcake with nuts and bits of candied and dried fruit (like my mom used to make).

Swallow:
The finish shows off the sherry influence a lot more. Wood, a roaring fireplace, fruit, spices, allspice, peach. There is just so much going on.

The sheer complexity of this dram including all the fruity tones set a definite aim for Speyside. It could very well be a BenRiach, or something that can produce similar drams.

After much clicking around I decided to settle on BenRiach and picked one from Whiskybase that’s bottled for a Dutch liquor shop. Didn’t seem too far fetched.

It turned out to be the Dailuaine Managers’ Choice. I actually thought about picking that but for some reason I discarded that choice. Still I was only one year off, and a little bit in the ABV so I still scored 63 out of a 100 points. I don’t know how it happened, but I’m in 4th position now!

I still think it’s a bit too expensive, but they keep getting discounted since everybody seems to think this way. It used to cost £ 200 and more. I do think that this is a stunning whisky for something at just 11 years old. Also, I’m considering how much I want to spend on something like this, but it’s probably just not going to happen…

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About Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

I'm a web developer at Emakina. I'm highly interested in booze, with a focus on whisk(e)y. I like to listen to loads of music and read quite some books.
I'm married to Anneke, have a daughter Ot, a son Moos and a cat called Kikker (which means Frog, in Dutch).
I live in Krommenie, The Netherlands.